We have a new ” More Historical War at Sea” proposal from Avi Solomon. Playtest volunteers are welcome. Post your comments or experience with this proposal.

BOARD CHANGES

Barents and Med are worth 3 POC for Axis control.

Baltic is worth 2 POC for Axis control, 3 POC for Allied control

Game Length increased to 10 turns

OOB and Reinforcement changes listed below

Some ship values have changed.

SPECIAL RULES

1. American ships can enter the North and South Atlantic, the North Sea, the USA and England. At the end of the turn, any US ships at sea can return to the USA.

2. British ships cannot base in Russia. British ships at sea in the Barents at the end of each turn must return to either England or the USA.

3. Convoys now have a specific destination port shown by the letter after its number. E means England, M means Malta and R means Russia. The Allies now get 4 POC per Convoy that reaches its destination, reduced by 1 for each damage on it, then the POC value is halved and rounded up if its destination is England. The Malta Convoy starts in England. If it is disabled in the South Atlantic, it returns to England. If disabled in the Mediterranean Sea, it reaches its destination, Malta.

4. Allied ships in the South Atlantic that are disabled return to England, not the Neutral Port.

5. At the end of the turn, Allied ships at sea in the South Atlantic can return to Malta if the Mediterranean is not Axis controlled.

6. Free French ships appear in England.

7. German ships lose their Special +1 to their attack dice while in the North and South Atlantic.

8. The Axis LBA is placed before the Allied LBA.

9. Italian ships are rolled for and moved before the Allies roll for availability and move.

10. The Axis LBA cannot enter the Mediterranean until Turn 3.

11. Unless the Axis control the Mediterranean Sea for two consecutive turns the Italians surrender at the start of Turn 9. If the Italians surrender, remove all Italian ships from the game.

To encourage a more historical approach to the Mediterrenean, David McCarty has proposed the following variant. If interested in testing this variant with him for non-AREA and non-ladder games, contact him directly, and post your results here below.

War at Sea Med Variant (Revised 7/24/2013)

War at Sea Med Variant

This is an attempt to correct what I think is the major flaw in WAS, which is that the best Allied strategy is to abandon the Mediterranean, which detracts from the game historically and limits the variety of possible strategies for both players. While the standard game is fun to play, it does seem to me to be a bit stereotyped, and all those nice Italian battleships are just decoration.

Availability:

1)A disabled result against an Italian ship (whether at sea or in port ) requires that it pass a dice roll to sail on the FOLLOWING turn
2) An Italian ship that is damaged or that was disabled on the PREVIOUS turn must roll to sail. On a modified result of six or greater, it may not sail. The die is modified by by +1 for each damage point.
3) British carriers in the Med may attack Italian ships in port during the air phase if there are no Italian ships at sea
4) Italian ships that fail the roll to sail may repair that turn
5) Russian ships receive a +1 DRM for the following turn if neither can sail. This is cumulative.
6) American ships all all automatically available on turn 4
7) The Graf Zeppelin isdeleted
8) German ships except for U-boats cannot enter the Mediterranean Sea,

Movement and Basing:

1) American ships are not restricted to the North Atlantic; they may enter any sea area except the Baltic. They may base in USA or England.

2) Allied ships disabled in the Med or at sea at the end of the turn may return to Malta, England, or the USA

3) Italian ships may not base in France.

Malta:

1.Convoy 2B starts in England and moves directly to Malta. If disabled, it returns to England. The Allies may not receive POCs for convoy 2B at any destination other than Malta.

2.All Italian ships MAY enter the South Atlantic IF Malta is Axis controlled. If not, NO Italians (including the cruisers) may go there

3.Malta may be captured by either side by controlling the Med for two consecutive turns. Ships there at the time are moved to any eligible base.If the convoy reaches Malta, it may not be captured on that turn. The Axis must control the Med an additional turn.

POC adjustments:

The side controlling Malta at the end of a turn receives 1 POC in addition to any received for controlling the Med.

The Axis receives 3 POCs for controlling the Med.

The Allies receive 1 POC as per standard rules.

The side controlling Malta receives 1 POC regardless of who controls the Med

Round 46 of the War at Sea ladder begins today. If interested in signing up post a comment here: https://waratsea.wordpress.com/round-46. Signups for round 46 are now closed, but click on the Round 47 tab and enter a comment to sign up for round 47, which will begin after April 30, 2013.

One important note for newcomers to the ladder is the Tournament adjustment for American entry.

American entry die rolls are given a cumulative +1 modifier for each turn subsequent to turn 4, thus on turn 5 individual American ships permanently enter on a roll of 5-6, on turn 6 American ships individually enter permanently on a roll of 4-6, etc. .